Method and system for wrapping an assembly of segments

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10709167-B2
Application number	US-201414907020-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Aug 13, 2014
Priority date	Aug 14, 2013
Publication date	Jul 14, 2020
Grant date	Jul 14, 2020

Abstract

In the method and system for wrapping an assembly ( 5 ) of segments, an outer periphery of the assembly is affixed longitudinally to an edge portion of a piece of wrapping material ( 50 ) and at least one of the segments of the assembly is a rigid segment with a compressibility higher than about 10 Newton per 1.5 mm. The assembly of segments is provided to a rolling seat ( 10 ) arranged in the peripheral surface of a wrapping conveyor ( 1 ). A retaining surface ( 202 ) is arranged at a distance and opposite the peripheral surface of the wrapping conveyor, such as to contact the assembly supplied to the rolling seat with the retaining surface. The assembly of segments are wrapped by moving the wrapping conveyor relative to the retaining surface thereby creating a relative movement between the wrapping conveyor and the retaining surface such as to cause rotation of the assembly in the rolling seat along a longitudinal axis of the assembly and by providing the assembly of segments with a three-point guiding contact while moving the assembly of segments along the retaining surface.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. System for wrapping an assembly of segments, the system comprising a supply conveyor, a wrapping conveyor and a retaining surface, wherein
the supply conveyor is adapted for supplying an assembly of segments to the wrapping conveyor, the assembly of segments comprising at least two segments arranged in an end-to-end relationship with an outer periphery of the assembly being affixed longitudinally to an edge portion of a piece of wrapping material, wherein at least one of the at least two segments of the assembly is a rigid segment with a compressibility higher than about 10 Newton per 1.5 mm; wherein
the wrapping conveyor comprises a rolling seat arranged in the peripheral surface of the wrapping conveyor being movable with the wrapping conveyor, the rolling seat comprising a rolling element rotatable relative to the wrapping conveyor for rotating the assembly in the rolling seat; wherein
the retaining surface is arranged at a distance to and opposite the peripheral surface of the wrapping conveyor such as to contact the assembly arranged in the rolling seat of the wrapping conveyor, wherein
the wrapping conveyor is movable relative to the retaining surface adapted to create a relative movement between the wrapping conveyor and the retaining surface such as to cause rotation of the assembly in the rolling seat along a longitudinal axis of the assembly, thereby providing the assembly with a three-point guiding contact while moving the assembly along the retaining surface and wrapping the assembly with the piece of wrapping material while the assembly is movable along the retaining surface, and wherein the system comprises a pressure applicator or applying pressure to the retaining surface to apply a constant pressure to the assembly.

2. System according to claim 1 , further comprising a retaining device arranged in the wrapping conveyor for retaining the assembly in the rolling seat, the retaining device providing a retaining action onto the assembly while the assembly is arranges in the rolling seat.

3. System according to claim 1 , wherein the rolling element comprises a pair of rollers arranged parallel to each other and rotatable in a same direction, the pair of rollers being arranged perpendicular to a moving direction of the wrapping conveyor.

4. System according to claim 1 , wherein the retaining surface is a surface of an endless belt.

5. System according to claim 1 , wherein the retaining surface and a surface of the rolling seat are surfaces adapted to avoid slippage between segments of the assembly of segments and the rolling seat.

6. A cigarette maker comprising a system according to claim 1 .

Assignees

• Philip Morris Products Sa

Inventors

• Emmet Robert William

Classifications

• A24C5/47 Primary

  Attaching filters or mouthpieces to cigars or cigarettes, e.g. inserting filters into cigarettes or their mouthpieces (A24C5/52 takes precedence) · CPC title

• A24C5/471

  by means of a connecting band · CPC title

• A24C5/10 Primary

  Machines with wrapping rollers · CPC title